1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to using a vehicle's external wireless communication capability to augment data streaming to electronic devices in the vehicle and, more particularly, to a method and system for joining a vehicle to Wi-Fi or DSRC networks as they are available to the vehicle, and using the Wi-Fi or DSRC bandwidth for streaming files and data to personal electronic devices within the vehicle, where the devices may communicate with the vehicle via a wired connection or a dedicated wireless network within the vehicle.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Cell phones have become increasingly sophisticated in recent years, to the point where they are commonly used for email, internet access, and a wide variety of special-purpose applications, in addition to their utility as a phone. Cell phones with such capability are often referred to as smartphones. Smartphones are typically designed to allow wireless Local Area Network (wireless LAN, also known as Wi-Fi) or other wireless communications to be used for all applications except actual cell phone calls. However, in absence of Wi-Fi or other wireless communication channels, the cellular communication network is used to deliver data for all applications on demand.
Because of the wealth of applications supported by smartphones, many modern vehicles now support seamless integration of one or more smartphones with the vehicles' infotainment systems. For example, a smartphone could be used to stream music from an internet radio service to be played over a vehicle's audio system, or the smartphone could access an internet-based video-sharing site and display the videos on the vehicle's rear-seat entertainment screen. Many vehicles support integration of smartphones using wireless communication technologies, such as Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, within the vehicle.
Other types of electronic devices are also frequently used in vehicles. Such devices include tablet-type computers and ebook readers, laptop computers, MP3 music players, gaming devices and others. Some of these devices may have cellular communications capability, while others do not. However, many such devices have some sort of wireless communication capability—such as Bluetooth or Wi-Fi—which allow the devices to transfer files and data when network services are available. These devices may also have hardwire-connection data transfer capability.
Many smartphone-based applications, such as audio and video streaming, are very data-intensive and thus bandwidth-intensive, which can lead to poor performance and/or high data-usage charges over the cellular network. In addition, Wi-Fi communications from smartphones and other electronic devices in a vehicle are seldom effective, because the vehicle is constantly passing in and out of range of wireless access points, thus rendering the wireless communications too sporadic to be useful. A vehicle with an external antenna, however, may have far better wireless network reception than a handheld device within the vehicle. There is a need for a system which takes full advantage of a vehicle's external wireless communications bandwidth, and makes this bandwidth available to electronic devices within the vehicle.